Imaging the eye is an important feature of head mounted displays (HMDs). Imaging the eye can provide useful details such as which direction the eye(s) are looking. Conventionally, cameras have been mounted on the side of HMDs to image the eye. In this “out-of-field” approach, the camera's view of the eye may be obstructed by hair or other facial features of a wearer of the HMD. When a camera is positioned to image the eye more directly, the camera is more likely to block the user's view of a display of the HMD or scene light from the user's environment.